Educational Activities Archives

Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based approach to managing patients with or at risk for SUD. This is a standardized core curriculum in SUD and SBIRT, designed for U.S. dental schools. Dental students who take and pass the curriculum modules would have achieved an understanding of the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to carry out SBIRT in a dental setting. 

This activity focuses on the foundational components of Motivational Interviewing and how this approach fits into a client centered approach to care. Participants learn how to apply motivational interviewing skills within a pain management framework.

This activity reviews the body’s normal response to stress and also introduces two brief behavioral exercises to aid in stress reduction and present-focused awareness. Patient explanations for both exercises are provided, as are brief experiential exercises. Sample scripts for clinician use are also included. Finally, a synopsis of the evidence for these exercises is reviewed. In short, the two techniques have evidence for moderate benefit, sometimes short-term only, and no evidence for increased risk of harm. They benefit from being brief, easy to teach, portable, and skills-based (thus skills practice likely increases potential for benefit).

Developed by AAAP and ASAM, this guideline focuses on the identification, diagnosis, treatment, and promotion of recovery for patients with stimulant use disorder, stimulant intoxication, and stimulant withdrawal.

Health professionals are often trained in “motivational interviewing” (MI), a way of encouraging patients struggling with substance abuse to make positive changes in their lives. Family and friends of people struggling from opioid use disorder (OUD) can also use these simple methods of talking to their loved ones about making changes, seeking treatment, and staying on track for recovery.